Fed up with health centre

[TriciaY1963]

Thankyou for the advice, we can't do much at present, as no stove, the photo is what I had for my dinner tonight, a pack of tesco ham, 3 bits of pickled gherkin, a tomato and salad cream, is that ok? I'm still finding it hard to find food I like, and fills me up, even after 10 years of having diabetes

 

[HSSS]

Thankyou for the advice, we can't do much at present, as no stove, the photo is what I had for my dinner tonight, a pack of tesco ham, 3 bits of pickled gherkin, a tomato and salad cream, is that ok? I'm still finding it hard to find food I like, and fills me up, even after 10 years of having diabetes

Doesn’t look bad to me. Personally I’d swap the salad cream for mayo as it has less carbs/sugar. I’d have added some cheese probably as that fills me up more. And overall unless I’d eaten well earlier in the day would need more than that overall. But then I tend to only have two meals a day rather than three.

 

[TriciaY1963]

Thankyou for your reply, I only eat twice a day too, but I very rarely go outside due to anxiety disorder over the last 25 years, so very little exercise, I spend my time painting and drawing, I hardly sleep either so I tend to have breakfast around 2pm then main meal around 10pm, and sometimes a cup of cocoa and 2 biscuits around 4am, I don't like mayonnaise so I would have to keep the salad cream, I love cheese, but was told to stay away from dairy as much as possible due to high cholesterol, I've been on statins and 2 lots of high blood pressure tablets for years, I just find the whole diet thing depressing, as I don't have much choice, as a result I've found it impossible to stick to

 

[HSSS]

Thankyou for your reply, I only eat twice a day too, but I very rarely go outside due to anxiety disorder over the last 25 years, so very little exercise, I spend my time painting and drawing, I hardly sleep either so I tend to have breakfast around 2pm then main meal around 10pm, and sometimes a cup of cocoa and 2 biscuits around 4am, I don't like mayonnaise so I would have to keep the salad cream, I love cheese, but was told to stay away from dairy as much as possible due to high cholesterol, I've been on statins and 2 lots of high blood pressure tablets for years, I just find the whole diet thing depressing, as I don't have much choice, as a result I've found it impossible to stick to

Low carb is a totally different approach to the low fat we are all used to. The vast majority of us find that our cholesterol readings and far more importantly the breakdown of which type of cholesterol improves as does blood pressure, despite extra fats, so long as we cut the carbs right down.

Also once you do it for a while your tastebuds change. I used to loathe any fats, mayo, cream etc. I love them now. Things like peppers taste sweet to me now. I can’t stand even a mouthful of any store bought cakes etc as they are so sweet it’s actually disgusting and I never thought those changes would happen to me.

There is an increasing number of medical professionals and researchers supporting the view that the fats aren’t the problem as previously believed, particularly for those of us that are T2 diabetic or approaching it. It does go against the status quo and is hard to make the mental change.

The low carb higher fat approach is even approved by the nhs with some areas prescribing it the same way others do slimming world or weight watchers. There are a number of nhs GP surgeries leading the way and publishing guidance for the rest of the nhs in low carb higher healthy fatways of eating too.

Have a read through the stories in https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/success-stories-and-testimonials.43/ Many here felt just as you (and I) did when told to eat the fat. But their personal experience shows that it really does work (and often far better) so long as you aren’t also eating the carbs.

 

[Resurgam]

There are so many plug in things these days - and many have a temperature setting and timer.
I have an intelligent grill which can be set to cook things until they reach a particular level of doneness, an induction hob, just plug in and you can cook and keep it warm at a table, slow cooker, halogen oven, Tefal actifry, I also have processing equipment such as a potato peeler, a Bamix hand held with different accessories, a stand mixer, a smaller food processor - decades old now but still going strong. The microwave only gets used for 'mugcakes' these days. The microwave is actually a combination of ordinary oven, grill and microwave, which makes it rather complicated but it makes my masterpiece souffles really simple.

 

[Deleted member 596235]

I am so fed up with my health centre, I haven't been able to get a doctors appointment, but I thought I'll be going for my yearly diabetic check up tomorrow, (which I booked nearly 5 weeks ago) then I received this message late this afternoon to tell me they've cancelled it...

I have a similar issue with my local health centre. After being diagnosed
as T2 in early February, and being prescribed medications in accord with
a current pathology report, they had arranged for a follow-up consultation
with the same doctor—one month later—to check on the meds, my BGLs
response, and for a referral for a second pathology report.

However, like you, I received a text message (what, no phone call?) saying
that my appointment had been cancelled due to the doctor "being away"
from the clinic.

Okay, we all have unexpected emergencies in our lives, so I can't begrudge
the doctor's decision on personal grounds.

But..... Surely the logical thing would've been for the clinic to simply arrange
for one of their other doctors to see me on that day, and not simply cancel
my appointment entirely? After all, it was a relatively important consultation
with a medication review and updated pathology tests.

As a consequence of this, I've been unable to reappoint—for two reasons.
I suffer from a Circadian rhythm sleep disorder, which makes it difficult to
book an appointment a week or more ahead, plus the fact that none of the
clinic doctors have available appointments until after the beginning of April.

As I live in a small rural town, access to adequate professional medical services
is very limited, and those that we do have are, of course, over-stretched. The
Australian federal government is neglecting the funding for rural health, or
denies that there are any issues that need additional federal health funding.
—

 

[tfr1146]

It's probably down to cost, I've been asking for the last 8 years for a meter, but to no avail

the practice nurse gets loads of free meters id be asking what she dose with them

 

[TerriH]

I am so fed up with my health centre, I haven't been able to get a doctors appointment, but I thought I'll be going for my yearly diabetic check up tomorrow, (which I booked nearly 5 weeks ago) then I received this message late this afternoon to tell me they've cancelled it, why leave it till the day before my appointment? They would have known this for weeks! I'm sick of it all...

"Dear Mrs *****,
Thank you for calling to book your Annual Diabetic Review.
Unfortunately, this has been booked in on Friday afternoon, when it is not possible to take the blood test which is required.
Please call the *** Health Planned Care Team to change this appointment."

(Mod edit to remove personal information)

I have just had exactly the same thing today when the health centre rang to say that the diabetic nurse had phoned in sick so my annual review due TODAY has been cancelled and I have been rebooked for 3 weeks. Diabetics are being treated like a nuisance and the duty of care does not exist anymore neither in England and most definitely NOT here is Wales.

 

[Souperwoman]

the practice nurse gets loads of free meters id be asking what she dose with them

A slow cooker might be useful for you and you can often pick them up in charity shops or on Freecycle these days. Not just for stew you can cook all sorts in them. Even roast a chicken. Not that expensive to buy new either.

 

[Annb]

Thankyou for the advice, we can't do much at present, as no stove, the photo is what I had for my dinner tonight, a pack of tesco ham, 3 bits of pickled gherkin, a tomato and salad cream, is that ok? I'm still finding it hard to find food I like, and fills me up, even after 10 years of having diabetes

Not too many carbs in that but I would avoid the salad cream (too artificial for me) and instead use proper mayonnaise, or even some full fat greek yoghurt mixed with a little mustard and seasoning. If you could manage a few fresh salady things instead of the gherkins, it would be better as well (sugar is used in the pickling mixture for the gherkins, although not much so a gherkin now and then shouldn't be too bad). I have also discovered that a cup of tea really makes my blood glucose spike. BG can go from 4.5 to 8.3 in a very few minutes - and stay there. I still drink it though because I don't like our tap water.

I am T2 but on insulin so maybe that's why I was given a testing kit by our diabetes clinic. Now have a CGM which is a great help in spotting problem foods. I know other areas in Scotland say T2's don't need to test, but our health board seems to think testing is needed for all diabetes types. It's that old postcode lottery thing, and money available, of course.

 

[Angela64]

I was given a testing kit in hospital because I was taken into hospital in 06/21 with confusion and a VERY hi Hba1C at 138. So my drs surgery didn’t have a choice in the matter. It’s good to read the diabetes.co.uk website, lot of information and also diabetesUK.org.uk lots of good information and learning.
Trying to be creative with meals, even ones that are cold, salads etc. I am and have been Low Carb and full fat and proteins like meat, fish, eggs cheese. My cholesterol can look high at 6 but the good cholesterol is low. To be honest I don’t count the carbs in salad cream or tomato sauce etc as I don’t have loads of it.
Have you a hospital near by that may well have a diabetes department?
What some of the others mentioned about ‘Freecycle’ or an area group asking if anyone has a cooking implement spare they don’t want, some people in my village post unwanted things.